Currently, the 309 AMARG consists of around 3,150 aircraft, 5,900 engines, and 340,000 aircraft parts.
The amazing pictures in this post, which were taken at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, showcase a few of the more than 3,150 retired aircraft kept at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (309 AMARG), the US Air Force’s (USAF) “Boneyard.”
One-of-a-kind inside the Air Force Materiel Command organization is the 309 AMARG. For Joint and Allied/Coalition warfighters supporting worldwide operations, 309 AMARG offers critical aerospace maintenance and regeneration capabilities as well as agile combat support for a variety of military operations.
The Army’s San Antonio Air Technical Service Command set up a B-29 and C-47 aircraft storage facility at Davis-Monthan AFB right after World War II. As of right now, this facility is known as the 309 AMARG, and it houses about 3,150 aircraft, 5,900 engines, and 340,000 pieces of aircraft production tooling from the Army, Coast Guard, Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, and many federal agencies, including NASA. April 1, 2021, marked the 75th anniversary of the 309 AMARG, America’s “Airpower Reservoir.”
The choice of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was made possible by Tucson’s low humidity, little rainfall, alkaline soil, and high altitude of 2,550 feet (780 m), all of which inhibit rust and corrosion. Without paving the storage areas, aircraft may be moved about thanks to the hard soil.
Certain aircraft are maintained in flying condition and require little modification to be brought back into use. Some have been preserved for a long time and need further work to be restored, but they are otherwise preserved intact. These aircraft are kept around in case they become necessary in the future, even though they are not needed right now.
The majority serve as “cannibalization” sources of parts for flying aircraft. Certain pieces of that sort of aircraft may still be usable even after they have been decommissioned. Others are just waiting to be recycled and eventually disposed of.
Remarkably, with 3,150 aircraft, the 309 AMARG would be the world’s second-largest air force (with the USAF being ranked first).
Photo by U.S. Air Force
Source: U.S. Air Force